US Asked to Curb Military Excesses in Iraq

by Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations has asked the United States to help prevent
military excesses by multinational troops and private security firms accused
of using indiscriminate force against civilians in Iraq.

"The US government should take steps to ensure that offenses committed
in Iraq by all categories of US contractor employees are subject to prosecution
under the law," says a new 37-page report released Thursday by the U.N.
Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

The study, the eleventh in a quarterly series focusing on human rights in Iraq,
urges "that all credible allegations of unlawful killings" by the
multinational forces in Iraq be "thoroughly, promptly and impartially investigated."

Further, it asks US authorities to take "appropriate action against
military personnel found to have used excessive or indiscriminate force."

"The initiation of investigations into such incidents, as well as their
findings, should be made public," the report says.

It also urges the US authorities to investigate recent widespread reports
of deadly violence by private security firms, including Blackwater USA, which
resulted in the deaths of about 10 civilians.

The company, which has come under fire for its aggressiveness, is under contract
to the US State Department.

UNAMI says it shares the views of the International Committee for the Red Cross
(ICRC) "that private military firms must respect international humanitarian
law."

The legal status of thousands of private contractors working in Iraq "remains
unclear," according to the UNAMI report.

Although they are not considered employees of the US government, an order
issued by the then US Coalition Provisional Authority in 2004 grants them
immunity from prosecution within the Iraqi judicial system "with respect
to acts performed by them pursuant to the terms and conditions of a contract
of any sub-contract thereto."

Still, there are certain categories of contract employees who are subject to
US military law under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Responding to a question, she said the report, regrettably, does not include
the casualty figures UNAMI has normally been reporting, based on official statistics.
The government of Iraq, she pointed out, has stopped making such figures available.

Okabe said the United Nations will ask the Iraqi authorities to resume providing
information from the Ministry of Health and the Medico-Legal Institute of Baghdad
on detailed casualty figures.

In the report, the United Nations also accuses the Iraqi government of a rash
of "serious and widespread" human rights abuses, including extrajudicial
killings, torture of detainees, violations of the rule of law, ineffectiveness
of the judiciary and irregularities in trial procedures.

The study says the ongoing violence in Iraq poses "enormous challenges"
to the government of Iraq in its efforts to bring under control acts of violence
motivated by sectarian considerations and criminal activity.

It also points out there have been 540 death sentences since 2004: 78 in 2004,
107 in 2005, 234 in 2006 and 121 through May 2007. Of these, 107 death sentences
have been carried out after being upheld on appeal by the end of April.

According to Amnesty International, Kuwait had the highest number of executions
per capita of population, followed by Iran. The other five countries with high
rates of executions include China, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and the United States.

While the security situation remains grave, the report urges the Iraqi government
to do more to ensure better judicial oversight mechanisms for suspects arrested
in the context of the ongoing Baghdad Security Plan.

It also calls on the authorities to immediately address reports of torture
in Iraqi government facilities, as well as those of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

As a matter of policy, UNAMI says it does not disclose information given in
confidence and does not indicate sources of information unless consent is granted.

Many accounts relating to the human rights situation in Iraq are discounted
where UNAMI is unable to verify the information through other sources or where
the information is inconsistent with its own assessment of patterns of abuse,
the study notes.

Thalif Deen has
been Inter Press Service's U.N. Bureau Chief since 1992. A
former Information Officer at the U.N. Secretariat and a one-time member
of
the Sri Lanka delegation to the General Assembly sessions, he is currently
editor of the Journal of the Group of 77, published in collaboration
with
IPS. A Fulbright-Hayes scholar, he holds a Master's degree in Journalism
from Columbia University in New York.

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